A trading board at Hana Bank's dealing room in Seoul shows the Kospi closing at 3,845.56, losing 38.12 points, or 0.98 percent, from the previous session, Thursday. (Yonhap)
A trading board at Hana Bank's dealing room in Seoul shows the Kospi closing at 3,845.56, losing 38.12 points, or 0.98 percent, from the previous session, Thursday. (Yonhap)

South Korea's benchmark Kospi set another record Thursday, soaring above the 3,900 mark during intraday trading. It eventually ticked down due to overvaluation concerns and wrapped up in the 3,840 range.

The Kospi closed at 3,845.56 on the day, shedding 38.12 points, or 0.98 percent, from the previous session.

After opening at 3,835.79, 1.23 percent lower than the previous session, the Kospi quickly dipped to the 3,820 range, reaching the day's low at 3,822.33. Driven by bargain-hunting by retail investors, the index swiftly reversed course and surged to the 3,900 threshold around 11:50 a.m.

The Kospi climbed as high as 3,902.21, breaking the previous intraday high of 3,893.06, logged Tuesday. Later in the session, it pared some gains amid concerns over overvaluation and retreated to the 3,840 range.

Retail investors net purchased shares amounting to 750 billion won ($520 million). Institutional investors, who were net buyers in the early trading hours, pivoted to net selling in the afternoon, offloading 400 billion won. Foreign investors dumped 400 billion won as well.

Offshore investors, who led the Kospi rally with heavy buying in recent months, have turned to selling in recent days, offloading nearly 1.38 trillion won worth of shares on the main bourse from Monday to Thursday.

With the bourse turning bearish during afternoon trading hours, most blue-chip stocks ended lower than the previous session.

Market bellwether Samsung Electronics slipped 2.13 percent, while SK hynix declined 0.62 percent. LG Energy Solution and Samsung Biologics also fell 1.54 percent and 0.94 percent, respectively.

Hanwha Aerospace was the only stock among the top 10 to gain, climbing 4.17 percent.

The Kospi has staged a record-breaking rally throughout October, successively surpassing the 3,500 mark on Oct. 2 and 3,600 on Oct. 10. After breaching the 3,700 threshold on Oct. 17, the index went on to top 3,800 on Oct. 21 and 3,900 on Thursday.

"The Kospi opened lower, tracking losses on Wall Street, but staged a sharp gain on the back of strong retail buying and touched the 3,900 mark for the first time. The index, however, gave up its earlier gains toward the end of the session as profit-taking pressure mounted," KB Securities analyst Lim Jung-eun said.

"Though the market took a brief pause Thursday amid currency volatility and profit-taking moves, its upward momentum is expected to continue."


silverstar@heraldcorp.com